salicylates and Parkinsonian-Disorders

The present study evaluated the ability of salicylic acid (SA) to attenuate long-term L-DOPA-induced 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) formation in the striatum of mice, and to protect against the resulting dopaminergic neurotoxicity. The production of 6-OHDA from dopamine in vitro from ferrous-ascorbate-dopamine (FAD) hydroxyl radical ((*)OH) generating system or in vivo in the striatum following prolonged administration of L-DOPA in mice were found to be significantly attenuated by SA. Intra-median forebrain bundle infusion of FAD, but not equivalent dose of ferrous ion or dopamine individually, caused significant striatal dopamine depletion, which was blocked by SA administration. The dose- and time-dependent increase in the formation of 6-OHDA following L-DOPA treatment in the mouse striatum was synergistically enhanced to the systemic administration of the parkinsonian neurotoxin, 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine. SA treatment significantly attenuated the L-DOPA plus the parkinsonian neurotoxin-induced striatal 6-OHDA generation, and protected against striatal dopamine loss. The present study demonstrated a novel mode of dopaminergic neuroprotection by SA and its possible therapeutic implication in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

Topics: 1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine; 3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid; Animals; Corpus Striatum; Disease Models, Animal; Dopamine; Dopamine Agents; Homovanillic Acid; Levodopa; Male; Medial Forebrain Bundle; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Neuroprotective Agents; Oxidopamine; Parkinsonian Disorders; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Salicylates

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), particularly peroxynitrite, have been implicated as key participants in the dopaminergic neurotoxicity of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP(+)). However, on the basis of available information, it is not clear whether the MPP(+)-induced overproduction of ROS and RNS occurs in the intraneuronal and/or extracellular compartment. Early steps in the neurotoxic mechanism evoked by MPP(+) include a profound dopaminergic energy impairment, which mediates a massive release of dopamine (DA), glutathione (GSH), and cysteine (CySH). In the event that MPP(+) mediates extracellular generation of ROS (such as superoxide and/or hydroxyl radicals) and/or peroxynitrite, released DA, GSH, and CySH should be oxidized forming thioethers of DA and disulfides. Using microdialysis experiments in which MPP(+) was perfused into the striatum of awake rats, the present study was unable to detect the presence of such biomarkers of extracellular ROS and/or RNS generation. However, MPP(+) induced a transient, concentration-dependent rise of extracellular l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-DOPA), identified on the basis of dialysate analysis using several HPLC methods and its conversion to DA by purified l-DOPA decarboxylase (DDC). Methamphetamine (30 mg/kg, i.p.) similarly caused a significant but transient rise of l-DOPA in the rat striatum. Antioxidants such as salicylate and mannitol had no effect on the MPP(+)-mediated elevation of extracellular l-DOPA, suggesting that it is not formed by nonenzymatic hydroxylation of l-tyrosine by ROS or RNS. Rather, in vivo, but not in vitro, MPP(+) caused rapid inhibition of DDC, which appears to result in intraneuronal accumulation and subsequent release of l-DOPA. Because l-DOPA can mediate l-glutamate release, as well as be an excitotoxin, the possibility is raised that l-DOPA may play a role in the dopaminergic neurotoxicity of MPP(+).

Topics: 1-Methyl-4-phenylpyridinium; Animals; Antioxidants; Aromatic Amino Acid Decarboxylase Inhibitors; Body Temperature; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Dopa Decarboxylase; Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid; Levodopa; Male; Mannitol; Microdialysis; Neostriatum; Parkinsonian Disorders; Perfusion; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Salicylates; Serotonin; Time Factors